On the edge of quitting finasteride

[DDobler]

Hello guys.
I would like to share my story with you, and maybe get some smart advice from you guys that passed what I am passing right now.:lost:

I feel very frustrated. I suffer from hairloss for 7-8 years (am currently 27 yo). I used minoxidil since I was 20, until now.
I recently added finasteride (5 months ago), in order to try and keep what I have and to go on a hair transplant at the end of 2016.
Unfortunately, finasteride worsened my hair completely. It absolutely made me balder than ever.

It started 2 months into finasteride. I started to notice that my frontal and top areas on the scap are thinner than before (more visible scalp, less hairs).
I thought it might be the initial shed that refers to the beginning of a hair treatment (such as with minoxidil).
I am almost 6 months with finasteride (b.t.w - Propecia brand name, 1 mg daily). My hair looks like total crap, I am almost NW6, the scalp is so visible. more and more bald spots, more and more thinning hair and shedding too many hairs.
I must mention that before I started finasteride, my hair didn't look that way. Of course, there is always the question of "How would I look like if not the finasteride? Maybe even worse?" Well, Im 99% sure that if not finasteride - I would look better than what I look today, at this point of time.

I am so frustrated since I haven't suffered any side effect, no sexual, no oily skin - the opposite it true : my sex drive is high (as before finasteride), and my skin actually feels a little dry (especially in the forehead and in the palms.

Many people advise to keep going with finasteride for at least 12 months, but seriously - I worry that if I continue 6 more months - I will be 100% bald. I don't know how it happened, but this Propecia just accelerated my hairloss. I have read about Telogen Effluvium. It might be that, but I honestly can't be sure. I also read about Reflex Hyperandrogenicity. It also might be that. But I can't be sure. 1 fact is that my hair was gone very rapidly after starting finasteride.

What makes me want to quit the most - is that I couldn't find even ONE(!!!) testimony on the internet of someone who shedded like crazy and lost hair on finasteride for a long term (6-8 months or even more) AND THEN HIS HAIR GREW BACK. none of this on the entire internet. The people who benefit from Propecia see a stablization after 3-4 months, 6 at most. I only go downhill with time.

I also am afraid of what will happen if I quit finasteride.

Does anybody have something to say?
The hair transplant dream is moving away from me.

 

[Aleksandar]

Some people keep claiming that those hairs are supposed to shed and that stronger ones are going to come back. The reality is that they never do or very little. Don't believe it. I have yet to hear an honest testimonial of someone who shed a lot on finasteride an miraculously regrew a lot after 12 or 24 months. Lost hairs should always regrow within a couple of months. If you don't have significant improvement with 6 months of finasteride, the chances are slim of any improvement at all. Apparently your body is not coping well with the hormonal changes. Not all people react the same way to medications.If I were you I would slowly cycle of finasteride a.s.a.p. and try another approach.

 

[DDobler]

Some people keep claiming that those hairs are supposed to shed and that stronger ones are going to come back. The reality is that they never do or very little. Don't believe it. I have yet to hear an honest testimonial of someone who shed a lot on finasteride an miraculously regrew a lot after 12 or 24 months. Lost hairs should always regrow within a couple of months. If you don't have significant improvement with 6 months of finasteride, the chances are slim of any improvement at all. Apparently your body is not coping well with the hormonal changes. Not all people react the same way to medications.If I were you I would slowly cycle of finasteride a.s.a.p. and try another approach.

Hey thanks for the reply. Does the "slowly" in your sentence mean that I shouldn't quit it at once? (I mean just stop and never take it again), but slowly reduce doses or something?

And what about the another approach? I think there is nothing out there else than finasteride and minoxidil, that actually did something good to someone.

 

[Aleksandar]

I would reduce doses slowly. You don't want to shock your hormonal system. Any sudden changes in your hormonal system can lead to additional hair loss.

 

[vloertegel500]

Wow man, I almost have exactly the same situation..

Currently 25yo, I have been using minoxidil for about 5 years. Always worked really good, did not recede anymore or at least not that I know of. However got sick of using it every morning so i switched to finasteride. Before I was receding at the temples a bit but after using finasteride, the shed of doom hit me and like you, my scalp became really visible (however I am not a norwood 6 yet). Been using it for 1.5y now and I keep on hoping for the regrowth but it just is not happening.. I am planning to continue using it untill the 2 year mark but after that i am quitting it for good if the results dont improve..

Have you ever read somewhere that if the hairs that were lost due to the use of finasteride, would come back slowly after quitting it? Really curious about this so maybe we could help each other out by sharing the relevant information we read online?

 

[DDobler]

Wow man, I almost have exactly the same situation..

Currently 25yo, I have been using minoxidil for about 5 years. Always worked really good, did not recede anymore or at least not that I know of. However got sick of using it every morning so i switched to finasteride. Before I was receding at the temples a bit but after using finasteride, the shed of doom hit me and like you, my scalp became really visible (however I am not a norwood 6 yet). Been using it for 1.5y now and I keep on hoping for the regrowth but it just is not happening.. I am planning to continue using it untill the 2 year mark but after that i am quitting it for good if the results dont improve..

Have you ever read somewhere that if the hairs that were lost due to the use of finasteride, would come back slowly after quitting it? Really curious about this so maybe we could help each other out by sharing the relevant information we read online?

Hey bro, I am sorry that you are going through this too.

I have yet to look for what you've mentioned, but I think I will try to find some info about it. I want to believe that the "damage" of finasteride is proportional to the period of time consuming it. I mean - if you took it for 2-3 months and lost some ground, then quitting it right after may reverse the situation, but if you have been taking it for almost 2 years then it will be a miracle if the lost hairs come back.
The thing is: I now see it as 2 options that I have:

1. keep losing hair with finasteride
2. keep losing hair without finasteride.

If I need to select an option then I rather go for the second one, since finasteride is a drug that affects too much on the body (rather we actually feel it or not).
Right now I wish I haven't started with it at all. But I took the risk and I don't regret taking risks in order to try and save my hair.

It is very frustrating situation.

I would like to ask you something - throughout these 1.5 years - have you missed some days taking the pill? Have you played with the dosage somehow? If you look at the baseline - how worse in the scale of 1 to 5 is got your hair in the period of 1 year?

Thanks

 

[HLTFaash]

finasteride

what is finasteride?

 

[0-100realquick]

I have been on finasteride 1mg/day for almost 15 months now. From my experience, my hair got worse for the first 8 months of taking finasteride. I have had slight regrowth, but still look worse than I did 15 months before starting finasteride. Everyone has something different to say about what finasteride has done to their hair and body, but I think its worth continuing. It is really the only weapon you have against hairloss.

 

[Rockinlove]

If the increase in testeterone is a problem then you might consider adding topical ru to your regimen.

Finland

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If you're not having good results with finasteride, I would quit. You still have hair transplant, minoxidil, hair concealers, hair systems. Also neogenic and castor oil which I'm not sure does anything at all but at least it doesn't hurt. Well I can't guarentee about neogenic but parsienne sent me a study providing it's safety profile. There are these numerous new treatments being announced and in phase 1 and 2 trials, something f*Cking ought to prove useful. Gonna check out Kerastem treatment in my city, see if it has any truth to what they are claiming.

 

[Sanchez1234]

Hey bro, I am sorry that you are going through this too.

I have yet to look for what you've mentioned, but I think I will try to find some info about it. I want to believe that the "damage" of finasteride is proportional to the period of time consuming it. I mean - if you took it for 2-3 months and lost some ground, then quitting it right after may reverse the situation, but if you have been taking it for almost 2 years then it will be a miracle if the lost hairs come back.
The thing is: I now see it as 2 options that I have:

1. keep losing hair with finasteride
2. keep losing hair without finasteride.

If I need to select an option then I rather go for the second one, since finasteride is a drug that affects too much on the body (rather we actually feel it or not).
Right now I wish I haven't started with it at all. But I took the risk and I don't regret taking risks in order to try and save my hair.

It is very frustrating situation.

I would like to ask you something - throughout these 1.5 years - have you missed some days taking the pill? Have you played with the dosage somehow? If you look at the baseline - how worse in the scale of 1 to 5 is got your hair in the period of 1 year?

Thanks

Did you quit? And how did it continue after that?

 

[DDobler]

Did you quit? And how did it continue after that?

Yep. I quit it after 6 months. It was a nightmare. It was the worst period of time in my life. It's like a demon that enetered my body. I wasn't me. My body got destroyed hard by this chemical.
I thank to god everyday that I didn't have PFS. Now I am 7 months after dropping finasteride and I am totally fine. My hair continues to fall slowly, and I will probably go for a hair transplant.

 

[WMQ]

Yep. I quit it after 6 months. It was a nightmare. It was the worst period of time in my life. It's like a demon that enetered my body. I wasn't me. My body got destroyed hard by this chemical.
I thank to god everyday that I didn't have PFS. Now I am 7 months after dropping finasteride and I am totally fine. My hair continues to fall slowly, and I will probably go for a hair transplant.

But you said before that you didn't have sides?

Did you discovered the sides only with prolonged usage?